Morning Coffee: The only people with safe jobs at Deutsche. Hiring, firing at BofA

Surprise! Deutsche Bank is making redundancies. The well-flagged layoffs at Deutsche’s investment bank finally arrived yesterday. According to Handelsblatt (via Reuters), 500 people at Deutsche Bank will be let go

Surprise! Deutsche Bank is making redundancies. The well-flagged layoffs at Deutsche’s investment bank finally arrived yesterday. According to Handelsblatt (via Reuters), 500 people at Deutsche Bank will be let go and they will almost all be based in London. The German paper said fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) professionals will be particularly targeted. The Times elaborated and said middle and back office staff associated with Deutsche’s FICC business will be cut along with its salespeople and traders. And the Financial Times said corporate financiers at Deutsche will be hit too.

So, who’s safe at Deutsche Bank? Based on the reports above, it looks like Deutsche’s equities salespeople have nothing to fear. It also looks like Deutsche Bankers in Frankfurt and New York will be fine. Deutsche reportedly employs 6,000 people in London, so 5,500 people at its office on London Wall are safe. That’s more than 90% of the total.

Separately, we’ve spoken a lot about the hiring that seems to be happening at Bank of America’s trading business. However, it seems that BofA is making cuts too. Three people told Bloomberg that BofA is trimming sales and trading professionals, although the cuts are reportedly restricted to 5% of headcount. Thomas Skove, the head of U.S. investment-grade industrials trading, is said to have been axed already, along with several others. However, BofA hasn’t given up on hiring: Bloomberg reports that the bank has added Jon Klein from Credit Suisse Group as an MD in investment-grade trading. BofA is hiring and firing. And that usually means upgrading.

Meanwhile:

Despite looming sanctions, there’s plenty of demand for private bankers to work with Russian clients in London. (Financial Times)

Javier Martin-Artajo, the ex-JPMorgan trader who allegedly helped hide losses made by Bruno Iksil, has filed a case against the FCA in London. (Bloomberg)

Junior bankers in the UAE seem to be earning salaries that are 36% higher than in London and bonuses that are twice as big. (Bloomberg)